Phil Perry shares his Patriots Stock Watch following the team’s season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills. Myles Bryant and special teams played a huge role in the loss, while Devin McCourty and DeVante Parker came up with big plays to keep the Pats in the
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- "Shell-shocked" was the word Matthew Slater used to describe how he felt following his team's regular-season finale loss to the Bills.
He's not used to the Patriots kicking game being the reason for a loss. For years they featured one of the best special-teams units in the NFL. He was a large part of that. But that's not what they were this year. And after allowing two kick-returns for touchdowns to Nyheim Hines, after losing 35-23 and missing out on the postseason, Slater described his unit's performance in stark terms.
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"We didn't give our team a chance to win the game," Slater said. "... It's hard to process. I've been playing this game a long time, and I've never been a part of anything like that. Very disappointing. As a captain of that unit, I feel like we cost the team the game. It's very difficult."
We know where the grade for the kicking game will be in our season-finale edition of the Report Card. Let's have a look at the rest ...
Quarterback: B-
The first drive of the game for the Patriots was ... ominous: incomplete checkdown in the face of pressure; run for two yards; sack. Looked like it might be a long day for Mac Jones. But he hit five play-action passes on his next drive for 50 yards and a touchdown, tapping into a portion of the playbook the Patriots didn't feature this year. Two drives later he changed a play at the line, and the Patriots picked up 18 yards on the ground. He hit on three more play-action throws and eventually found DeVante Parker for a score.
He and his teammates were on their way to points again during their first drive of the third quarter -- traveling 60 yards in 10 plays -- but he threw a back-shoulder pass to Nelson Agholor that was picked. Whose fault? Agholor, who'd been buried on the depth chart as the No. 5 wideout before that play, didn't make much of an effort to win the football in the air or break up the Tre'Davious White pick. He wasn't targeted again and was insignificant to the game plan the rest of the way.
It was far from a perfect day for Jones, who threw two more interceptions on passes deflected by his teammates, though he bears responsibility for the placement of those passes that would've at best fallen incomplete. He missed a third-and-one checkdown, throwing instead to a covered out-route. He scrambled for three on third-and-8, protecting possession and keeping his team in field-goal range, but it looked as though he might've been able to reset and throw for more yardage.
But there was a smattering of good -- especially relative to where the bar has been set for this passing game in 2022 -- including a well-placed 50-50 ball for Parker that gave him a chance to reel in a 26-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
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Jones wasn't satisfied with his progress in Year 2, he said after the game. But there were some signs of hope for the future in his performance in a must-win game Sunday at Highmark Stadium. "Just looking forward to improving as a football player," he said.
Running back: B
Rhamondre Stevenson ran for an impressive 9.0 yards per carry (54 yards on six carries), and combined with 48 yards from Damien Harris on 13 attempts, the duo averaged an impressive 5.4 yards per attempt. And Harris might've had a third-quarter touchdown had the pass from Jones been floated in at a different trajectory.
Stevenson had a drop. He also had a fumble that was recovered by David Andrews. And Harris deflected a misplaced checkdown up into the air to turn it into a pick.
Wide receiver: B
DeVante Parker had himself an afternoon in his first game back from a concussion suffered in Week 14. He caught six passes for 79 yards, including two touchdowns. The first came on a mesh play when his over route was lost by the Bills secondary. His second was an acrobatic contested grab -- the type he was expected to make (and has, at times) when the Patriots traded for him in the offseason. Jakobi Meyers got the scoring started for the Patriots with an acrobatic toe-tapping touchdown grab of his own from just two yards out.
But Tyquan Thornton had a drop. Kendrick Bourne had a drop. And Agholor had his lone target of the day -- a back-shoulder pass along the sideline -- picked off. Was he expected to do more in order to break that up? He didn't see a pass the remainder of the day and it looked as though he didn't see much action the rest of the way.
Tight end: C+
Hunter Henry, it's clear, has the trust of his quarterback. Jones went to Henry for a fourth-and-1 conversion in the third quarter. He targeted Henry a team-high seven times. (Parker and Jakobi Meyers also saw seven passes head their way.)
But that trust may have gotten Jones and the Patriots offense into trouble. Facing a third-and-19 scenario -- after running a second-and-20 draw play for one yard -- Jones forced the issue. He threw into a well-covered Henry, who tipped the pass up into the air and into the arms of Matt Milano. Henry was also called for offensive pass interference on a pick play that docks this grade a bit.
Offensive line: B-
Mac Jones was sacked just once in this one, but he absorbed some punishment. Tremaine Edmonds, Greg Rousseau and AJ Epenesa all had hits on Jones. Trent Brown appeared to have a handful of miscues early on in the passing game, and David Andrews was flagged for a hold.
On the drive that ended with a Henry pick, the Patriots had run plays go for a loss of four and another go for just one. On drives that led to punts, the Patriots had a power run go for a loss of six and an inside zone run go for three. Their first run of the game went for only two yards and helped set up the Patriots for a third-and-long they couldn't convert.
But this group's production in the running game (over 5.0 yards per carry from their backs), and its ability to generally keep Jones off the turf bumps them up into the "B" range.
Special teams: F
Bill Belichick said after the game that there were multiple miscues on the first return touchdown by Nyheim Hines. It looked like Raleigh Webb, Pierre Strong and Jabrill Peppers were all unable to slow down the Bills return man on the left side of the New England coverage unit. That left Slater to try to outrun Hines' angle from the opposite side of the field, but he couldn't catch up. On the second return score, Myles Bryant had a clear shot to tackle Hines, but he couldn't get the ball-carrier down.
The Patriots did get a special-teams turnover when Slater pushed Taiwan Jones into a bouncing Michael Palardy punt, with Ja'Whaun Bentley recovering to get his offense back on the field. But what helped solidify this mark was the squib kick in the fourth quarter that bounded out of bounds and put Josh Allen and Co. on their own 40-yard line.
Emotional Slater 'not sure' about future plans after Patriots lose to Bills
Four plays later, from midfield, Allen flicked a perfectly-thrown pass to Stefon Diggs for a scramble-drill touchdown.
Defensive line: B+
The Patriots allowed just 3.6 yards per carry, helping hem in even Josh Allen's legs (16 yards on nine carries). Allen had sneak attempts that were successful, but the fact that this group was able to reign in an athletic quarterback -- something they had trouble doing against the likes of Lamar Jackson and Justin Fields earlier in the year -- is indicative of their improvement over the season. Holding teams to less than 4.0 yards per rushing attempt has become the norm for them.
This group also got sacks from Deatrich Wise and Daniel Ekuale -- as well as two pressures and a quarterback hit from Christian Barmore -- to nudge this grade to where it is. Barmore also appeared to combine with Matthew Judon on a game to generate pressure that forced an Allen pick in the red zone. Good day from assistant coach DeMarcus Covington's unit.
Linebacker: B
Judon injured his ankle but stayed in the game and had a tackle for a loss as well as a quarterback hit that helped force Allen's interception. Bentley once again led the team in tackles (and picked up a loose ball on a member of the punt-coverage team for good measure).
Josh Uche got some initial pressure on Allen that eventually led to Wise's sack. Jahlani Tavai had a pass breakup and kept an eye on Allen at times from the second level and at one point held an Allen scramble to just two yards. Anfernee Jennings had two tackles for loss in the running game.
This group was consistently impactful. A little more pressure from this unit -- especially on Allen's long, drawn-out down that led to a Dawson Knox red-zone score -- would've ratcheted the grade up. But they were solid enough for this season-ending "B."
Secondary: C+
This was a more volatile position group this week. On the one hand, they had game-changing plays from a handful of players; Jonathan Jones punched out a football that Devin McCourty recovered; McCourty intercepted Allen at the end of the first half to keep the Bills off the scoreboard going into the locker room; Jones broke up a deep-ball shot to Gabe Davis; McCourty had an impressive first-quarter pass breakup that prevented a touchdown.
On the other hand ... Jones was beaten deep down the sideline on a long-distance touchdown connection between Allen and Stefon Diggs. Myles Bryant chased John Brown down the field in a scramble-drill situation and couldn't catch up before Brown hit paydirt. Allen threaded an 18-yard pass up the seam between Bryant and Marcus Jones late in the first quarter to help set up the first offensive score of the day for Buffalo.
Plenty of good with the turnovers. Plenty of not so good with the big plays. Allen finished with 8.2 yards per pass and a 106.1 rating. That leaves this unit somewhere in the middle for their final performance of the season.
